futurology | VIDEO. UN: LOKI

VIDEO. UN: LOKI

[ the sound of the wind storm hollows dully against the cave walls. Loki's squidge, Bacon, can half be seen crawling in the confines of his tacky green jacket and over his knee from where he sits, sometimes ducking and squeaking when a particularly large gust hits. to keep it from screaming, Loki offers his fingers absently, which the little squidge pulls on with its pudgy arms before ducking low again. ]

Hello there, it seems like we'll be waiting this out for some time considering the weather-type circumstances. While we're all rotting away, etcetera etcetera, I thought we could amuse ourselves with a game. A little bit of team bonding funtimes, so to say. [ he twists a dark nailed hand in the air, gesturing. ]

Soo—oo ... it's called Two Truths and a Lie. How do you play? Glad you asked, it's simple! Give two true statements about yourself and add a lie to the mix, shake it up then toss it out there and see if your team members know you well enough to spot the lie.

Usually this is done with copious amounts of alcohol, but we're lacking at the moment. [ pause. ] But—ah—you could always enjoy the satisfaction of being right. It's not like we're doing much else.

NOTE | Feel free to threadjack if that's your thing!! :****

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[Well, on the bright side, he gets this sort of wide-eyed reaction a lot. Often enough, in fact, that Shizuo doesn't even notice it too much--or maybe it's also because his squidge decides to be distracting this time, fidgeting around on top of his head about now. Shizuo's hand shifts up to steady it a bit.]

Yeah, I got it off the ground, unfortunately. Up to about, ah... [Shizuo looks aside at his other hand, raising it to a point a little past his head where he's sitting. Incidentally, at about angry-young-boy-picking-up-a-car height.] ...About here, I'm pretty sure? Didn't quite pull off the throwing part because my arms broke before I could, though.

[More like diluted Japanese not-green Hulk, let's say.....]

[Haise does notice that little squidge, a little smile tugging at his lips. those two get along so well, don't they?]

You got further than most could. I've heard of "Superman syndrome", but that's really a feat, lifting a car.

[Especially as a child]

I think I can guess, but...you healed up okay, right?

[It's true, they've been getting along surprisingly well in all this...Shizuo still isn't quite sure how it happened himself. A bit of his bangs disappear from the feed as a small hand reaches down to grab up that particular lock of his hair, but if Shizuo even notices this he's not making any reaction.

He drops his hands with a small shrug.]

Mm, generally...it's not a thing a person does. [Lifting cars in general....and Shizuo declines to mention that he could absolutely throw a car pretty easily without breaking anything at all, at this point. Neither here nor there, after all, and it's not exactly something to be proud about. So...] "Superman syndrome", is that what they call it? Sounds pretty cool like that, hah.

[It's not cool at all, it's awful and he hates it and he's spent a lot of his life wishing he never had it. ...But hey, that's still a neat name for it.

Shizuo nods now, with a small flourish of one of his arms. Decidedly not-broken and perfectly intact-looking, as one can see.]

You're right, though, I did. Took a long time, since I'd keep re-breaking things before they were all healed up for awhile, but that wasn't the first time that sort of thing happened anyway. So, my body'd already started adjusting around that point, I think...

I've heard it called that, at least...I don't know if it's a proper technical term.

[And may in fact be slang, since actual 'superman syndrome' is some kind of genetic disorder, but these gents don't have google right about now. There seems no harm in having a positive view of such strength, and besides...

There are very few things Haise could properly attribute it to. He'd read about people performing superhuman feats before, something to do with the sympathetic nervous system's response to high-stress situations, but none of it was what he could say he knew a great deal about...]

From the sounds of it, you're more adaptable than most.

[Well, more adaptable than most humans. Ghouls could certainly heal up like that, but this fellow didn't smell at all like he was one]

It's good that you were able to recover. Heavy injuries like that can be pretty tough to weather.

[Yeah whatever, it's all the same in the end...google is for nerds anyway...!]

More adaptable...yeah, that's what a friend of mine tells me too. He also tried to explain it with a bunch of medical terms but, I've forgotten pretty much all of that. Doesn't really matter anyway, I figure. It just sort of happened.

[There's really no use trying to think too hard on it. All he knows is he can't get rid of it. Shizuo settles back against the wall.] Mm, that kind of injury definitely wasn't fun. Used to hurt all the time. Haven't had anything like that happen again in a few years now, at least...I don't really break any bones anymore.

You kind of sound like you're talking from experience, though. How many bones was it for you, ah? [He's...sort of joking....but no, maybe he's a little curious too, sue him.]

It's good to hear that you don't have to deal with those sorts of injuries anymore.

[That many bones breaking had to be incredibly painful, on top of being debilitating. The fact that Shizuo was able to fully recover from that, and even become stronger, is remarkable.

He's never heard of humans with that capability, outside the Quinx]

In my case...I can't say I ever had a count. My body heals quickly, but I've had some pretty extensive injuries in the past, so I can sort of relate.

[But he doesn't forget the big difference is that he heals quite swiftly compared to a human. Rather like Shizuo seems to be though, he does become stronger for it]

Right, guess a bone-breaking count isn't exactly something most people keep track of... [Shizuo frowns thoughtfully, tilting his head mostly on account of Aki shifting its weight on his head.] The only reason I remember that one time being over fifty is because of how the doctor was yelling about it. Hey, but it's good you heal pretty quickly, though--that means you're a pretty healthy sort of person and things like that, right?

[He tilts his head again, the other way--more of his own volition this time.]

Was it accidental stuff...or did you used to get into a lot of fights too? [Not that Haise really strikes him as a sort of person to pick fights...]

Well... [Healthy, ah. He actually eats the bare minimum of what he should since he's got such a distaste for it, so he can't exactly claim he's healthy. At the same time, explaining just why he heals quickly is a bit of a tricky subject] I try and stay fit, at the least.

[Real smooth, Haise. Having handled that question, he moves right along]

My work often involves combat, so that's where I tend to get injuries.

[If Shizuo notices anything particularly awkward about Haise's not-admission about his health, he makes no indication of it--because he doesn't, and it seems like a simple enough answer. Besides, some people are healthier than others generally, right? That's a pretty normal sort of thing. Maybe Haise is even just a little like himself, when it comes to that.

So Haise moves along and Shizuo is content to do the same--though this answer earns a blink of surprise.]

Ah, combat... [Shizuo peers at the feed properly now, a small and thoughtful frown falling into place. Haise had said he was from Tokyo as well--modern Tokyo, Shizuo's been assuming. So, a line of work like that...] Were you a cop back home? Or, some sort of security thing...? [This is all he can think of, immediately off the top of his head.]

Something like that. My official title is First Class Investigator, which is the bottom rung among senior operatives.

[Police are the easiest comparison, and so when people make the suggestion, Haise always finds himself content to roll right along with it. The key difference was that they policed ghouls and were authorized to use deadly force, of course, not that he'd ever been particularly fond of applying it.

Anytime he could spare a life, Haise vastly prefers to]

There's a regular police force though, so we're more...specialized, you could say.

Wow...that's still pretty impressive by the sound of it. I bet you really know what you're doing.

[Bottom in seniors still makes you the top of everyone else below that, right? It's still surprising, but Shizuo supposes he can sort of see it now. Haise does seem to have the general composed air of somebody used to dealing with a lot of responsibility with things, even if he doesn't exactly come off like a policeman or something necessarily...

But apparently it's not quite the same thing anyway, huh.]

Specialized, though? Like, trained to handle just one kind of thing, right? Ah... [This also sounds like pretty high-tier stuff??] Can you talk about what you're specialized for, or is that a classified sort of thing...

It's not classified, but I think most people aren't used to dealing with the same things.

[And knowing that there are different versions of the same world, this is the sort of thing he knows will determine whether he and Shizuo know the same Tokyo. They might or might not, based on what they've discussed so far...

That reality won't be changed by whether he clarifies though]

We specifically handle ghouls, a predatory species that preys on humans.

[Indeed, this is probably the defining detail that would separate the Tokyo's either of them know...and it does end up dividing them into two different versions, apparently, if Shizuo's slow and faintly puzzled blink at the term is anything to go by.]

'Ghouls'? Ah, I don't think I've heard anything about that sort of thing in Ikebukuro at least. [Sure, there's been stuff like the Slasher incident a bit ago, but even then...'preys on humans'? That's pretty...something, now isn't it? Shizuo frowns properly now.] Which ward's this in, is it a lot of them?

[He doesn't fail to note the expression, watching quietly. While ghoul predation isn't something understood or covered in florid detail, it certainly makes the headlines. Unless Shizuo doesn't follow the news at all, it likely means that they're from different iterations of Tokyo.

Though they can still relate, and Haise can hope that means Shizuo's version is a more peaceful place]

They're found throughout Tokyo, in different concentrations. Where be organization I belong to has stronger influence, their numbers are lesser — but it fluctuates with time.

[Well, to be fair, it is true that Shizuo doesn't put much effort into following the news at all...what with his preference to avoid too much television or internet or even radios, and the fact that he picks up word of most local goings-on by word of mouth anyway. Really, with all the weird shit that tends to happen in Ikebukuro, who's to say that this kind of 'ghoul' thing couldn't crop up too? He certainly couldn't say for certain one way or another.

Altogether they might as well be the same Tokyo's anyway, as far as he's concerned--and so Shizuo opts to treat this news as such.]

Throughout, seriously? Damn, then that's a pretty big spread... [A faint, sympathetic sort of grimace.] Well, like I said, I don't think I've heard of them. But now I might as well keep an eye out whenever it is I get back home, so I'll keep that in mind...and it sounds like you guys really have your work cut out, in that case. ...Uh, it's good you haven't been eaten yet or anything...

[His smile at that last comment is a tight one, only barely registering any passing resemblance to a smile at all. Haise could say that he wouldn't be very appetizing to ghouls, which would be true, but that wouldn't preclude any of them from eating him.

In Cochlea, incarcerated ghouls were fed a "stew" made of ghouls that had been done away with, in point of fact]

Ah, I'd put up quite a fight if the attempt was made, I can assure you...

[It's what he's trained for, not to mention being a half-ghoul himself]

Most predation cases occur at night or in instances where an individual is lured out alone. Just to be safe, it's good to keep those things in mind.

[Well, that...certainly is quite the not-smile over there. Entirely too late, it occurs to Shizuo that maybe he could have said that a little less...bluntly....because the sentiment had been a sincere one, but. Maybe that'd been phrased pretty lamely after all, everything considered...

Haise responds before he can attempt something towards an awkward apology, though, and so in the end it doesn't really matter. Especially with an assurance like that, ah...]

Right...guess you're the expert on these guys anyway, so you'd be the most prepared out of pretty much anyone else, huh?

[It's a mildly dry response in turn, but he thinks he can understand the gist there. And the advisory that follows gets another slow nod too.]

Ah, this kind of shit always seems to really like happening at night, doesn't it? Underhanded bastards, by the sound of it... [Sneaking around and messing around with people like that...but well, not much to do about that.] Not exactly like people ought to wander around town alone if they can't take care of themselves to start with, too. But I guess not everybody's got common sense like that...thanks for the advice, anyway.

[An expert...if only he could comment on that. Though Haise supposes he knows about as much as anyone else does, aside from how it feels to be a ghoul. In the brief span of his memory, he's done his best to live a human life, because that's what has always been presented to him as the ideal. As a normal, pleasant existence.

If he were human, he wouldn't have to live with the constant, nagging fear of becoming useless and being discarded. That, he'd suppose, isn't the normal ghoul experience, but he has the same technical knowledge as any other Investigator at his level, if not more.

He does his best to smooth out his expression into something more placid, aware after a delay that he must've come off more pensive than he'd meant to be]

It's the least I can do. We endeavor to keep everyone safe, but you'd be surprised how many people don't exercise caution and end up targeted as a result. Sometimes...you'd never imagine that you were dealing with a ghoul.

[Ironic for two reasons, though Haise is only aware of one.

As for the other...he is where he is because Ken Kaneki never imagined a cute girl who liked the same books as him was a ghoul]

Edited 2016-08-15 23:15 (UTC)

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VIDEO. UN: LOKI

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